Walter Huston

In 1904, Walter Huston married Rhea Gore, who worked as sport editor in various publications. She gave up her career once their only son, writer director John Huston, was born in 1906. The marriage began to falter by 1909 and the couple ultimately divorced in 1912.

In 1915, Huston married his vaudeville partner Bayonne Whipple, who was older than him. The marriage fell through by the beginning of 1920s and finally they divorced in 1924.

Huston next married Ninetta (Nan) Sunderland in 1931. The couple remained married till his death in April, 1950.

Walter Thomas Huston (originally Houghston) was born on April 5, 1883 in Toronto to Robert Moore Houghston and Elizabeth (née McGibbon). Initially, the family had a farm near Orangeville in the Dufferin County, Ontario. Just before his birth, they moved to Toronto, where his father established a construction company.

Walter had one brother and two sisters. One of the sisters, Margaret Carrington, later became famous as theatrical voice coach. In Toronto, Walter attended Winchester Street Public School. Later he studied engineering and concurrently, worked at his father’s farm. In spare time, he attended ‘Shaw School of Acting’.

Huston made his acting debut in 1902 in Toronto. He then toured with different companies enacting important roles in plays like ‘In Convict Stripes’, ‘Julius Caesar’ and ‘The Sign of the Cross’. At the same time, he also grew a passion for vaudeville.

Unfortunately, he had to leave acting after he got married in 1904. The income from his acting career was not at all steady and he found it difficult to maintain his family with it. He therefore, shifted to the USA and very soon started working as a manger in power stations - first in Nevada and then in Missouri.

Huston lost his job in 1909 because the design of the power station, on which he was working in Missouri, proved faulty; it nearly drowned a town. He then went back to stage.

Sometime now, Huston began to vaudeville with actress, Bayonne Whipple. Very soon, they began to be billed as Whipple and Huston. The act became their main source of livelihood well into 1920s.

Huston made his Broadway debut on January 22, 1924 with ‘Mr. Pitt’. He played the part of Marshal Pitt. The show, which ran through April, was moderately successful; but it helped Huston to get a foothold.

Later in the same year, Huston joined Provincetown Players and was chosen to play the role of Ephraim Cabot in ‘Desire Under the Elms’. Originally, it was an off Broadway show, enacted at Greenwich Village Theatre. The play was such a huge success that it was soon transferred to Broadway and ran for eleven months.

Huston, now a well-known name, began to enact the leading roles in a number of plays like ‘Kongo’, ‘The Barker’, ‘Elmer the Great’ etc.

With the advent of talkies, he went to Hollywood and in May 1929 made his film debut with ‘Gentleman of the Press’, playing the part of Wickland Snell.

While Huston had made more than fifty films, his 1948 film, ‘The Treasure of the Sierra Madre’ directed by his son John, is probably his best. It was one of the first Hollywood films to be filmed on location outside the United States; in this case Mexico.

In this film, Walter appeared as Howard, a side character. Since he was still enacting lead roles he did not want to take it up. However, later he agreed and on his son’s request, did not wear his dentures.